Sickness
by Ice-Kitsune-317
Summary: What would happen if Elena got sick? Who would be concerned, or come to her rescue? O/S
1. Chapter 1

Slamming the door forcefully behind her, Elena stormed into her room wincing at the loud crack the door made. The headache had been creeping up on her since second period, and it was now firmly lodged in her temples pulsing in time with her heartbeat.

'Ugh, that stupid history test! How could Alrich spring that on them knowing how much they had been running around dealing with vampire stuff?' It had been agony trying to concentrate on things she couldn't remember studying in class, let alone at home in her non-existent study time.

Dropping her bag onto a chair, Elena flung herself onto her soft, fluffy bed.

'I wonder if I get extra credit for dealing with the whole the town depends on our safety issue…' she wondered. Nuzzling her face into the bedding she let her mind wander. Just as she was beginning to doze off, however, her phone buzzed on her nightstand making her jerk. Elena contemplated answering it, but decided against it. Just this once she was taking a time out from the drama of their lives.

Silence reigned again and she had started to doze off again, when her bedroom door banged open.

"Hey Elena, we were looking for-" Caroline trailed off seeing Elena smothered in her bedding not budging an inch at the intrusion.

"Oh, sorry- were you asleep? You know it's only like three in the afternoon right?" Caroline questioned the still unmoving girl.

"Elena…?" Concerned, Caroline walked over to shake Elena. Crouching next to her she peered out of concerned blue eyes at the flushed face and pale lips that greeted her. Stretching out a slender hand, she gently felt Elena's forehead.

"Oh wow you're really warm!" She exclaimed upon contact.

Elena mumbled in reply "…wanna sleep…"

Thinking quickly, Carolina went into the bathroom and rummaged for a minute before emerging with a glass of water and a few pills held in her hand.

"Here, I want you to take these then you go right back to sleep." She nudged the protesting girl until she managed to her them down her throat and murmured gentle words until she had her arranged to her liking tucked under the covers.  
>"I have to go meet Tyler, he said he had something important to talk about, but if you need anything, anything at all, I want you to call me, ok?" Caroline told the almost comatose girl on the bed. Receiving a grunt of acknowledgment, she headed to the door, casting a concerned look at the bed before heading out. 'Hopefully she gets over this quick; I don't think she's been sick for a while. I have no idea what Klaus and his hybrids are going to do with it if they find out. I just can't tell anyone, that's all. I'll come back tonight and check on her. She's a big girl, she should be ok.' Reassuring herself that Elena would be fine, Caroline got in her car and headed off to meet Tyler.<p>

Damon listened to the ring tone sound again and threw his phone down with disgust. Knowing Elena wasn't happy with either him or Stephen right now, he wasn't surprised when he hadn't heard from her for a few hours. But when those few hours became closer to two days, he started becoming concerned. The only reason he hadn't headed out to find her was the fact that when he asked Caroline she said Elena was fine, just needed some space and not to bug her. Hearing the house echo emptily around him, what with Stephen gone doing who knows what, he gave in to the impulse and grabbed his keys on the way out. Driving over to Elena's house he almost turned around half way there. If no one besides him had become concerned, that could just mean that she was back to avoiding him, which was entirely plausible. However the nagging in his gut told him that something was wrong. Pressing harder on the accelerator he sped off to find out what was going on.

Getting to the house in half the time it normally took him in a car, he hopped out and jogged up the drive. None of the lights were on, which could mean no one was home, or it could mean something else. Alrich had been back at his apartment for a few weeks dealing with packing it up, finally giving in and admitting he lived at the Gilbert residence. Knocking on the door impatiently, he waited for someone to answer. Not hearing any movement, he tried the door. Finding it unlocked, he let himself in calling, "Elena? You home?" Feeling like ten kinds of fool he glanced around the neatly kept house. Hearing no breathing on the first floor he headed for the stairs to check her room. Finding the door closed when normally it was open, he almost broke it down in his haste to find out what was behind it. However his forward motion was halted halfway through the doorway hearing hoarse coughing coming from the bathroom. Hearing the toilet flush he flashed to stand directly in front so when Elena came stumbling out she crashed into him with enough force to drive a grunt from herself.

Blurry, bloodshot eyes peered up at him from a flushed face, cracked and dried lips parting to rasp, "Damon?"

He gaped down at her, taking in the pajama clad rumpled form, hair slightly greasy and tangled in a messy bun and obviously very sick girl.

"Elena…?" He questioned, sure it was her, but unsure what to say.

She gave his finely clad healthy form a disgusted look before stumbling around him toward her bed.

"Who else would be here?" She asked rhetorically. Upon reaching the bed, her wavering form dropped like a sack into the nest of blankets, fitfully tugging and pulling them around her slightly shivering form staunchly ignoring him after the comment made. Her rasping breathing filled the room as the only noise for a minute, then two before he managed to wrap his brain around the fact that Elena was sick. Elena Gilbert, girl he had known for going on two years, girl who had never been sick once, was sick now.

Silently he walked over to observe her resting form, bright blue eyes taking in the haggard appearance of the normally polished girl. Unsure what to do, he glanced around, finally noticing the messiness of the room. Tissues littered the floors; cups of half-drunk water were stacked precariously on anything within reach of the bed, empty cold medicine bottles were dropped around in the mess. Discarded sweat crumpled pajamas were in a corner near the hamper. Apparently when she was sick housekeeping took a break. Mentally rolling his eyes at himself he committed himself to playing nursemaid for the girl he was hopelessly in love with, knowing that she normally had no patience with his bullshit and sick it was probably all gone. Resigned he bent down to start gathering up clothes. 'The shit he did for love.' He thought in disgust at himself.

The morning light woke her up. 'Finally feeling better' she thought happily. Hopping out of bed Elena practically danced over to her bathroom to brush her teeth and take a shower. After being sick for a few days, she knew she needed it. Desperately glad that no one had seen her in this state of disarray she scrubbed the sweat sickness off of her slightly leaner body. Not eating food for a few days was not a healthy way to lose weight, and she didn't need to in any case.

Briskly drying herself off, she pulled on a loose pair of yoga pants and a tank top. Humming in direct counter tune to the grumblings of her stomach she skipped down the stairs heading for the kitchen. Hearing a creaking floorboard, she stopped for a moment, experience telling her to be cautious, but after a moment of hearing nothing she decided it must have been the house settling. Humming she swung into the kitchen only to let out an ear-splitting scream.

Hearing the startling shriek Damon jerked back from the counter narrowly avoiding cutting off his fingers. After taking a deep breath he gently placed the knife onto the cutting board and turned around to face the startled girl.

"Well it's true then, the dead can rise." He drawled wiggling his eyebrows at the fresh scrubbed girl.

"What are you doing here Damon? And where are your clothes?" Elena asked firmly keeping her eyes on his face, though his bare chest taunted her to peek. 'I can't look, this is Damon!' She admonished herself.

Rolling his eyes he sauntered around the island saying, "Relax, no need to fear for your virtue. Well yet anyway, it's gonna take me a few days to get the sick Elena image out of my head."

Hearing this, she gaped at him in horror, demanding "Tell me you didn't see me when I was sick!" making him chuckle at her in delight. The dread on her face was worth every moment of playing nursemaid.

"Who do you think cleaned up after you and made sure you didn't die?" He smirked over at her.

Watching her face pale and her hands reach up to cover it he instantly felt contrite.

"Hey, it wasn't so bad, I've seen worse for sure." But the more he tried to reassure her, the more she hunched in on herself and began moaning. Concerned, he walked over and grabbed her wrists, gently tugging them from her face. Bending down to peer into her downcast eyes, he reassured again, "Don't worry your secrets safe with me. Besides no one listens to me, so who would I tell?``

Finally she cracked a small smile, but threatened, `` You better not or I`ll be forced to hunt you down and stake you.``

Smirking at her, he gently steered her over to the table and presented her with a light breakfast of fruit and egg white omelette. They joked while she ate, content with the state of affairs between them.


	2. Chapter 2

I'm not trying to ignore the people who were kind enough to review to this story, I'm really sorry I haven't responded yet, but since they changed the system around while I was on hiatus from writing I haven't been able to figure out how to respond to reviews on stories I've published.

Let me just say thank you for the insight in writing and thank you for reviewing. I really appreciate it, and I'm glad you liked the story.


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